1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to pop-up toasters in general and more specifically to a removable basket for inserting and removing food articles in the slot of a pop-up toaster.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A toaster is typically a small electric kitchen appliance designed to toast or heat multiple types of bread, pastry products or bagels. A typical modern two-slice toaster has two slots in which the bread, pastry slices or bagel half are placed. Generally, a toaster draws anywhere between 600 and 1200 Watts of power and completes the heating or toasting cycle in 1 to 3 minutes.
In pop-up or automatic toasters, food articles are inserted vertically into the slots (generally only large enough to admit such food articles as a single slice of bread, a single pastry or half of a bagel) on the top of the toaster. A lever on the side of the toaster is depressed, whereupon the food articles to be heated or toasted are lowered between a pair of heating elements and thereby activating the toaster. When an internal device determines that the toasting or heating cycle is complete, the toaster turns off and the lowering mechanism pops the food articles up out of the slots. The heating elements of a pop-up toaster are usually oriented vertically, parallel to the article of food—although there are some variations.
Sometimes the food articles being toasted get stuck in a toaster by catching on part of the various wire grids and lips of the toaster structure. Also, some food articles placed in a toaster are small with respect to the depth of the slot in which the toasting takes place. Thus, when the toasting is complete and the lowering mechanism releases and pops up, the food article remains out of reach of the fingers of the individual operating the toaster. This is most prevalent in pop-up toasters, and the food article must then be freed manually. Further, when the food article pops up, its temperature is elevated and may be too hot for some individuals to grasp.
As most toasters are used in the kitchen, metal knives and forks are typically an easily available tool to assist in the extraction of the food article from the toaster slot. The internal structure of the toaster is primarily of metal construction and the heating elements are of a composition that heats through electrical resistance. Therefore, utilization of metal devices such as forks and knives to extract food articles from the toaster presents a significant risk of electric shock to the user, unless the appliance is disconnected from the main electrical outlet.
Thus what is desired is a device to aid in the extraction of food articles from a pop-up toaster without endangering the user to electrical shock or suffering burns from grasping hot food articles with the user's bare fingers.